The Story
by nyx29
Summary: Set a few years after college. Rachel goes to a bar where Quinn's band is playing. (Repost from my LJ. Originally written in 2011).


**The Story**

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**Disclaimer: **The song in this fic was written by Phil Hanseroth for Brandi Carlile. As always, characters from Glee don't belong to me either.

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She heard the familiar bars to the intro of a song she loved as she entered the darkened bar. The expression gracing her features was one of adoration as she watched one of her musical idols performing on stage as she made her way through the audience to the bar.

After ordering a bottle of ice cold water and finding a small unoccupied table at the back of the large room, she sat down, mesmerised by the talent of the band's lead singer, her favourite member of the group.

The singer's blonde hair, still cut into the short style she'd had for years now was styled to look deliberately messy and Rachel had always thought it looked incredibly sexy on her. Just as she was thinking that she'd love to go up onto that stage and run her fingers through it to push it back out of her eyes, she looked down to play a chord on her guitar and the curtain of hair moved, her eyes becoming visible. The most beautiful hazel eyes that Rachel had ever seen. The ones she'd dreamt about when she'd been in hospital. It was the only thing she remembered from her coma. Gazing longingly into those eyes and getting lost in them. She'd been so happy. Nothing could hurt her when she was lost in those eyes.

The blonde flicked her head back as she sang the next line, the unruly hair settling wherever it landed, her eyes closing as the words seeped through her consciousness and belted out of her mouth. Rachel took the opportunity to watch her in her element and thanked God for how lucky she was.

Quinn didn't know she was there. If she had, she'd be different. It was only a subtle difference, nobody else would probably even notice, but Rachel knew that her presence affected her girlfriend when she was on stage. It was in those eyes she loved so much. They'd always search for her in the crowd. Seeing Quinn performing up on that stage, singing the songs she'd written herself with every ounce of unbridled emotion that provoked her to compose them in the first place, well… it did something to Rachel's insides. And seeing her play guitar? That did something to her insides too, only that was a little further south. There always was something about a talented musician that turned her on.

They'd been through so much together and they'd both changed so much. Life would inevitably do that to a person. They'd been through heaven and hell together. They knew each other inside and out. Nobody knew her like Quinn did. It was the most amazing feeling, and one she knew she'd never be able to describe accurately even if she tried until her dying day. Just the thought of Quinn made her smile, so seeing her now, so free and expressive, made Rachel feel as though joy was flowing through her own veins.

The song came to its conclusion and Rachel took a moment to just look at her girlfriend. She really was stunning. She no longer looked like the popular "All-American" cheerleader she'd once been, although she still had the athletic body. She looked more like one of the people she spent the early part of her high school career tormenting for looking a little different. Gone were the pastel summer dresses and cardigans. Now, ripped jeans and tank tops were more her thing. It was a black combination tonight. It was simple, but through Rachel's eyes she'd never looked more beautiful. She was just herself and all the more attractive for it. The bands and bracelets she wore around her wrists and the silver rings on random fingers of both hands, as well as the small silver nose stud she'd kept since senior year and the thin eyebrow bar she'd added after, all added small inflections and individuality to her image, whilst still keeping it simple. This was her Quinn. The Quinn who, even though she had trouble expressing herself through words, had come into her own within the boundaries of their relationship and then out into the world with her song writing.

She'd thanked God every single day since she'd woken up after her accident, that she was alive and had been given another chance to show Quinn how much she loved her, and how lucky she was that they had their own safe haven with each other where they could be completely themselves without any fear of judgement.

The crowd applauding snapped Rachel out of her thoughts and she joined in, cheering her girlfriend and her band from her place in the back corner of the bar as the song ended.

Quinn was never one to take praise very well, so her head ducked and she muttered a quick "thank you" into the microphone before pushing her hair subconsciously behind her ear. God, Rachel loved it when she did that.

"Thank you all for your support this evening. It's good to see some familiar faces and lots of new ones too." She jammed her hands in her pockets, suddenly extremely nervous.

"We've been planning this gig for a while and it's been an honour to play here at The Bitter End, tonight, where some of our idols began their careers." Her hands were back out of her pockets and she didn't know quite what to do with herself whilst so many people were giving her their undivided attention as she spoke.

"I don't expect we'll be anywhere near as commercially successful as Bob Dylan or Etta James and especially not Lady Gaga but it truly is incredible to say that we've followed in their footsteps by performing here." She looked down at her guitar as she fiddled with one of the tuning pegs and her head flung back up as she remembered something.

"Oh, and I almost forgot to mention Barbra Streisand. She sang here too." A small smile formed on her lips. "Rachel would kill me if she was here and knew I forgot to mention that I'm following in her idol's footsteps." The band behind her laughed and a few of the girls down in front of the small stage did too. Quinn wasn't shy in mentioning her girlfriend and it made Rachel's heart fill with a little more love for her, even if she did nearly forget about Barbra Streisand. How could anyone ever forget about Barbra?

"Speaking of Rachel…"

Rachel's head snapped up at the sound of her name again, and Quinn's dropped to avoid any sort of interaction with anyone else in the room whilst she continued to feel vulnerable by speaking publicly.

"…some of you know that she was in an accident a few of months ago and that things didn't look good for a while." She let go of the guitar and grasped the mic stand as if it were capable of supporting her weight and holding her up.

"She's on the road to recovery now. She's back at home and it's thanks to her that we're even performing tonight. I still wasn't quite ready to leave her for a whole evening, but she insisted because she knew how much the four of us wanted to play this venue. So you can all thank her if you've enjoyed tonight." She gave a self-depreciating chuckle and looked up from whatever it was that was so interesting on one of her black cowboy boots to acknowledge her three bandmates behind her and then the crowd in front of her.

"Thank you to those of you who asked after her tonight. It means a lot to me and I know it will to her too." She smiled a small but genuine smile to the people she could see under the house lights of the room.

Rachel just thought this whole thing was incredibly endearing. She knew that Quinn hated speaking in public, but it was part of doing a live show. Her row of fangirls right in front, by the stage apparently agreed that it was cute judging by their reaction to Quinn showing her rarely seen vulnerable side. Rachel had her own little giggle when she saw Quinn blush under their adoring scrutiny.

"Um…"

_God, she is so cute. I wish I could let her know I was here and reassure her, but she must have almost finished the set and she's so gorgeous when she's not holding anything back._

"…Right, so we have one last song to play for you tonight." She focussed back on the tuning peg of her guitar and strummed the strings a few times, making sure the instrument was properly tuned again.

"It's a very special song to me. I wrote this when Rach was in hospital."

_She wrote a song while I was in hospital?_

"I was at her bedside for days, not knowing if she was gonna pull through and I can safely say they were the hardest days of my life." She took a deep breath to fight off tears and tilted her head up toward the ceiling.

Rachel could see the struggle going on behind her eyes and it made her heart break a little bit. While Quinn didn't shut her out, Rachel knew she didn't like talking about that time. She could see this was hard for her, but that she really needed to get some of it out of her head.

"Whilst I was sitting there, thinking of everything we'd been through together and... And, all the things I'd wished I'd said and done, a couple of really specific things dawned on me. Things you don't realise until they're almost taken away from you." She cleared the rapidly forming lump in her throat and took a second to compose herself.

"One of those things was that Rachel and I are absolutely made to be together and that I truly can't comprehend life without her." Without the mic, there was no way her voice would've carried.

"I was playing it on my acoustic in the hospital room when Rach's eyes flickered for the first time, before she woke up." She scrunched her eyes up, reliving it. "God, I don't think I've ever been that relieved in all my life."

Rachel gasped. She didn't know that. She didn't remember any music, but it didn't surprise her that a combination of music and Quinn, her two greatest loves, would've been just what she needed to regain consciousness after so long.

Quinn looked around the room as though she'd just realised there were actually other people there who could hear her as she was spilling her guts. Suddenly self-conscious again, she cut to the chase.

"I'm gonna get on with the song now, but my intention is to sing it to Rachel when I ask her to marry me. I think it seems appropriate." She looked up when she heard a couple of people react to that, seemingly surprised at their interest, and continued.

"I've got the ring and everything." She tapped her jeans pocket with her hand. "I'm gonna do it as soon as I can. I want it to be special, she deserves the best, I just can't wait any longer. I need to show her I want to be with her until my dying day and I'll do anything for her." She ended her little speech with a shy smile, readied her guitar to begin playing and looked back at the band to check they were ready to start too.

"Right… this is called 'The Story.'"

Rachel's jaw had been on the floor since around the time Quinn mentioned she wrote the song while she was in hospital. Since then, tears had been added to the stunned look on her face and the plastic, half empty, bottle in her left hand was being tightly squeezed without her even realising. She would later assume that was because she needed something to keep her grounded while she heard Quinn open her heart.

The entire room went completely silent as the house lights dimmed when Quinn started playing the opening notes of the song. Rachel felt a chill go up her spine at the feeling. It was electrifying and eerie all at the same time. So many people, yet you could've heard a pin drop.

Then Quinn started singing and that feeling only intensified. By a factor of about a thousand.

_**All of these lines across my face  
**__**Tell you the story of who I am  
**__**So many stories of where I've been  
**__**And how I got to where I am  
**__**But these stories don't mean anything  
**__**When you've got no-one to tell them to  
**__**It's true  
**__**I was made for you**_

Rachel was quite frankly blown away. She'd already noticed her own tears before Quinn had even opened her mouth because of the mention of a proposal and everything else she'd said, so hearing Quinn sing about not having anyone to share her life with, pretty much opened the floodgates. It broke her heart to think of Quinn on her own, shutting down and withdrawing into herself the way she had been in the early days of their relationship. Even if Rachel wasn't around anymore, she wanted, more than anything, for Quinn to be happy and the thought she wouldn't be… well, she couldn't bring herself to think about it.

She stood from her seat and slowly made her way forward, through the crowd of people, toward the stage, her body moving seemingly of its own accord, drawn to the sole focus of her consciousness.

Quinn unconsciously had her eyes trained on a point somewhere in mid-air above the crowd, unmoving. She couldn't particularly see anyway since the stage lights were blinding her, but all she could see in her mind's eye was Rachel in that hospital bed. That image of her fun-loving, life-living girlfriend, so small and vulnerable, just lying there, bandaged and bruised, almost lifeless. It still haunted her regularly even though Rachel was recovering well and was giving life a damn good run for its money. She'd never take anything for granted ever again now that she had her Rachel back, but the memory of how close she came to losing her was a difficult one to shake.

As she sang, she thought of all the memories they'd shared, the one's they'd created together and how she now hoped for so many more in the future. At the line 'I was made for you,' she closed her eyes and couldn't help but remember when the words first burrowed into her brain and point blank refused to leave. It was when she was in that hospital room, gripping Rachel's hand so tightly and willing her with everything she had to open her eyes. Now, singing it aloud in public for the first time, and knowing Rachel was okay, it felt like maybe the part of her heart that became so damaged when her best friend, her support, her true love, her absolute everything, was almost taken from this world against her will in front of her eyes, was starting to heal. The look of pain that accompanied those emotions dissolved from her features and a small smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.

_**I climbed across the mountain tops  
**__**Swam out across the ocean blue  
**__**I crossed over lines and I broke all the rules  
**__**And baby I broke them all for you  
**__**Oh, because even when I was flat broke  
**__**You made me feel like a million bucks  
**__**You do  
**__**I was made for you**_

The smile on Quinn's face dropped a little when she continued on to the next verse and the only word to describe the new look on her face was determined. The drums kicked in and she moved to the beat as some pent up aggression started to come out into the song. That was mostly due to the memory of the helplessness of being able to do precisely nothing to help Rachel to recover and just watch on as she fought for her life. She would have literally climbed mountain tops and swam across the ocean if it meant Rachel would be okay. Now that she actually was, she realised that particular desire had only strengthened and would probably never change. Rachel Berry deserved to be happy and no rule held strong enough consequences that Quinn wouldn't break it to ensure that happened.

Rachel always expected music to provoke her feelings and bring them to the surface, but watching the same thing happen to Quinn as she sang this new song she'd written for her, for the very first time, was amplifying all those feelings. Quinn's display of emotions along with the words she was singing were mesmerising to Rachel to the point that she was completely in awe and couldn't even begin to identify what exactly those emotions were. Just that they were overwhelming and she needed to be close to Quinn. Right now.

Quinn generally tried to mask her emotions in public, but she was really fighting a losing battle right now. Even someone who couldn't hear what she was singing or the emotion in her voice would be able to see from her expressions and movements that she meant every single word without a shade of doubt.

In her trance like state, Rachel continued to move closer to the stage, shoulders bumping into people and not even realising. Not that they cared either. They were all just as engrossed in watching Quinn go head to head with the performance of her life and kick it square in the balls.

When Quinn sang, 'You made me feel like a million bucks,' Rachel saw a wide smile cross her features and immediately knew the words had prompted them to relive the same memory, and she couldn't help but smile at it as well. They'd used the phrase a few times to each other when times were hard. It was prompted during their second year together; junior year of college, when a lawyer contacted Quinn to inform her she'd been disinherited by both her parents after their most recent disapproval. Quinn, in her emotional turmoil, had claimed she wasn't good enough for Rachel and now certainly couldn't provide for her either, and she'd be better off leaving her for somebody who could. Rachel, in no uncertain terms, proceeded to prove that Quinn was everything she could ever want or need and money didn't matter and as long as they had each other; that the simple things in life were enough. It really did make Quinn feel like the richest person in the world and it was one of her favourite ever memories of Rachel and she couldn't help but include it in the song.

Throughout the bridge, Rachel's already slow journey to the stage continued but was a little more distracted as she watched the music take control of her wonderful girlfriend. God, she was so lucky. Quinn had written this song for her, was planning to propose, and look at her... Telling the world how she feels about her. It was the most loved Rachel had ever felt. There was no doubt about it. Quinn Fabray truly was made for Rachel Berry. They just fit. It might be a cliché, but they really were each other's missing piece.

Not only that, but the woman played a mean guitar and she was showcasing her talent right now as if her life depended on it.

Quinn was using the break from singing to try to compose herself before the next verse. She'd come dangerously close to crying already and she wanted to get through the whole song without making a complete show of herself for the wrong reasons. She managed to reign the emotion in just enough not to break down, but playing the music was still just as emotional to her as the singing.

_**You see the smile that's on my mouth  
**__**It's hiding the words that don't come out  
**__**All of our friends who think that I'm blessed  
**__**They don't know my head is a mess  
**__**No, they don't know who I really am  
**__**And they don't know what I've been through  
**__**Like you do  
**__**And I was made for you**_

This was the hardest verse to sing in every rehearsal they'd done and it was taking everything she had not to get choked up before she even opened her mouth again. The lyrics summed Quinn up perfectly and she knew that Rachel would be the only person in the entire universe who would just accept it and understand exactly what she meant. That was pretty much the point of the verse anyway.

Her voice cracked a little at one point and the raspy quality it took on as she continued was simultaneously sexy as hell and heartbreaking to Rachel.

Even though she was still only 24, nobody could deny that life had thrown a lot at Quinn Fabray and an idiot could work out that would have at least some effect, but Rachel was the only person she allowed herself to be vulnerable with.

There were varying degrees of the real Quinn that the world got to see, but none of them were the real her, except the one Rachel saw. She seemed to have this ability to get inside Quinn's head and just understand exactly what she felt without her having to explain it. She'd be there if Quinn wanted to talk about something playing on her mind, or if an old memory that still haunted her reared its ugly head. More often than not though, she'd always be there if Quinn needed to be held and feel some comfort whilst she cried. Knowing Rachel's arms were around her made her feel so safe that she could allow herself to be at her most vulnerable and know that nothing could hurt her. She could trust her Rachel to protect her from the horrors of the world.

She knew she couldn't have lived without Rachel. Survived? Maybe by the skin of her teeth, but living would've been a lost cause. The world was already fucked up enough through Quinn's eyes and it would seem so much more desolate if Rachel wasn't in it anymore. Rachel was Quinn's other half, her life force, her reason to get up in the morning and not crumble under the weight of life. She couldn't do it on her own. She'd die without Rachel. If they'd never met, she thought she'd already be dead anyway, but if Rachel was taken from her, she'd have felt like she'd died twice.

She couldn't live without Rachel. She just couldn't. And she wouldn't.

She could feel the lump in her throat threatening to spoil the song as she approached the next verse and her eyes closed again as she fought back tears.

Rachel's heart was breaking. She'd been unconscious. Yes, she'd been fighting for her life and the recovery had been hard, but Quinn had been there at her side throughout the whole thing. She'd been completely aware of what was going on and she had to go through it all without having Rachel to confide in, to comfort her and to keep her safe. She had to be the strong one, and she was certainly capable of doing so… Rachel knew she'd die for her, but Quinn was not the type of person who could keep her shit together without feeling even more vulnerable. Rachel knew that and would've done anything if it meant Quinn hadn't felt so alone in those days after the accident.

She was getting closer to the stage but it still felt like it was taking too long. She just wanted to wrap Quinn in her arms right now and take all that pain in her eyes away.

_**All of these lines across my face  
**__**Tell you the story of who I am  
**__**So many stories of where I've been  
**__**And how I got to where I am  
**__**Oh, but these stories don't mean anything  
**__**When you've got no-one to tell them to  
**__**It's true  
**__**I was made for you**_

She closed her eyes as she belted out the first line of that final verse and as she opened them again, two fresh tears slid down her cheeks. Her voice carried so much pain, but as the song concluded, it seemed like something shifted. Yes, she was getting out all the pain that she'd lived with whilst Rachel was in hospital, but she was using this moment to draw a line under that and turn a corner. She was going to propose to Rachel. She was going to show her how much she meant to her and she was going to give her the world. They would be happy and have beautiful babies and grow old together and God help anyone who stood in her way.

Those tears weren't stopping, but it was completely obvious that the unrestrained emotion was only improving her performance of the song. Not one person in this room would forget seeing Quinn tonight. The night she performed the song exactly the way she intended it to be sung when she wrote it, every meaning and emotion conveyed with absolute truth and total determination to show the woman she loved that she would do anything for her.

Rachel was now standing front and centre, the stage touching distance. She'd never seen Quinn look more beautiful. This was the Quinn that usually only she got to see, and it made her heart swell with pride to see her allow herself to let go a little and reveal it in the presence of other people. Even if she didn't know Quinn and was just watching this performance as a fan, she imagined that she'd be in awe of the determination she was showing and she'd probably even be a bit jealous that someone had provoked such strong feelings. As it was, she was the person who'd prompted the emotions and the song that was a product of it, and she felt another wave of complete pride wash over her that that was the case.

_**Oh yeah and it's true  
**__**That I was made for you**_

As she strummed the final chord, two more fresh, fat tears rolling down her cheeks, she revelled in the feeling created by the split second of total silence and the excited applause which followed, and cautiously opened her eyes.

She thought she'd finally gone delusional when her eyes focussed through the spots in her vision created by the bright stage lights, and settled on the sole object of her thoughts throughout her final song.

"Rach?" She even made herself jump when the sound of her own voice echoed around the acoustics, a result of speaking directly into the microphone.

She stepped back from the mic and placed her beloved guitar on it's stand as soon as she realised she wasn't seeing things. Rachel could only step back slightly as Quinn practically landed on her after jumping down off the front of the small stage.

Most of the crowd that could see them had worked out what was going on and the applause was beginning to subside, their full attention now on the couple.

"Oh my God, Rachel. Are you okay? What are you doing here? I knew I shouldn't have left you alone tonight. What's wrong? Do you need a doctor?" As she was firing all these questions at her girlfriend, Quinn was frantically searching Rachel's head for any signs that her healing injuries had suddenly and unexpectedly recurred, and had managed to move an unsuspecting bar patron from his seat, ushering Rachel into it instead, and crouching down in front of her.

Rachel couldn't help but smile at Quinn's protectiveness but placed a reassuring, warm palm to her cheek to convince her that she was okay.

"Baby, calm down. I'm fine." Her thumb wiped away the tear tracks from Quinn's right cheek, and even though she had matching watery patterns on her own face, her warm smile was in stark contrast to the panicked expression on Quinn's.

"Then why are you crying?" It was almost whispered, and there was definitely a sadness in the blonde's voice.

"Aww, baby." She pecked Quinn on the lips quickly to assuage her doubts, before leaning back in the chair. "I'm absolutely fine. I'm more than fine, in fact. And the reason I'm crying is probably the same reason you are, sweetheart." She moved her hand to Quinn's chin and tilted her head to make her look into her eyes so she'd see she meant it.

Quinn visibly relaxed to the point that her whole body sagged. "Oh, thank God." She reached out to cup Rachel's face in both her hands and sat up on her knees to place her lips tenderly on Rachel's, making the soft kiss last until breathing became an issue, at which point she rested her forehead against Rachel's instead.

"I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you while I'd been here." Rachel noticed that familiar look of pain she hated so much, grace her features.

"Hey." This time it was Rachel's turn to cup Quinn's face in her hands and she took the opportunity to distance their faces so they could see each other properly. "Look at me."

Quinn did as she was told and looked back up at her. She never could deny Rachel anything and her desire to do what Rachel wanted outweighed her reluctance to make eye contact.

"I promise you, I'm okay. I just needed to get out of the apartment for a while. I was going insane." She let out an exasperated half-laugh as Quinn gave her the type of disapproving look a parent might give their naughty child, and was about to interrupt her, before Rachel continued.

"Babe, I appreciate that you're protective at the moment and it's so sweet of you to be so concerned, but I needed to get out of the apartment, and I really wanted to see you perform here. You've been looking forward to it so much." She smiled that beautiful smile that still took Quinn's breath away and any argument she had went with it. "And, I'm so glad I did too. You were incredible tonight, sweetheart."

Quinn bowed her head at the compliment. She might love this woman beyond comprehension but she was still Quinn Fabray and praise was always difficult to believe and accept, even if it was from Rachel.

Rachel pushed the blonde hair that had fallen forward, back off her face, just like she'd wanted to do earlier, and fell even more in love.

"And yes, by the way."

Quinn's head snapped back up at that, not understanding what Rachel was referring to.

"Yes? Huh?" Her brow furrowed in confusion. "What? Yes, what?"

"I heard the whole song, Quinn. I came in at the beginning of the song before." Rachel was now brushing her fingers through soft blonde locks and it was doing nothing to help Quinn work out what she was talking about. She looked dazed and confused and was still also trying to work out if Rachel actually was genuinely okay and not just trying to appease her.

"I heard how you introduced the song to your screaming fangirls." Rachel smirked at the term she always used and nodded her head in the direction of the group of girls right by the stage, who were staring at them. Quinn's gaze followed.

The penny dropped for Quinn at the mention of her intro and her head snapped back around to Rachel.

"Oh. Shit, Rach. You weren't supposed to find out like this. I was gonna do it all romantic and you were gonna love it. I was even gonna cook. And you know I can't cook. I've been practicing. I was gonna cook vegan... Your favourite meal." She looked so dejected that her idea had been ruined. "It was gonna be so perfect. I was gonna..."

Rachel silenced her by placing a finger to her lips.

"Quinn... I said yes."

Quinn's eyes widened in realisation and a smile crept across her face, her eyes filling with tears again.

"Really?"

Rachel couldn't help but broaden her smile at the look of hope mixed with vulnerability on Quinn's face. It was adorable. How could she even doubt that Rachel meant it? She just nodded, her own eyes beginning to water.

"Well, I guess since I'm practically down on one knee anyway…" She shuffled around a little and planted one foot right between Rachel's, her knee next to it and produced a small, black suede pouch from her jeans pocket. She opened it to reveal a simple white gold band. Shoving the pouch back in her jeans, she looked up, directly into beautiful chocolate eyes and took Rachel's left hand in her own, playing with her elegant fingers.

"Rachel Berry, will you marry me?"

It was the simplest way of asking that question in the history of marriage, and she'd considered so many different ways, but so far none of this was going the way she'd intended. She just wanted to get the words out before she choked on them and ruined the moment more than she already thought she had, so she kept it simple.

"Yes!" She choked back a sob. "Yes, Quinn. I'd love to marry you. I can't wait to be your wife."

She jumped out of the chair and pounced on Quinn before she'd even had a chance to put the ring on her finger, Quinn now realised why you had to be on one knee when you did this. It was so when your fiancée launched herself at you, you didn't fall straight backwards, both of you landing in a heap on the floor. She clutched Rachel in her arms and held her so tightly, wanting to enjoy this moment of pure, untarnished happiness for as long as she could.

Rachel was holding on just as tightly, out of excitement as well as unadulterated joy and softly whispered in Quinn's ear… "I was made for you, too."

Quinn separated their bodies so she could look into Rachel's eyes again. Those eyes were so expressive and right now there was nothing there but love behind tears of joy. Quinn knew that her's were expressing exactly the same thing. That's all she could feel in this moment so there was nothing else there to cloud it.

She leaned forward and pressed her plump lips against Rachel's. It was similar to the one they'd shared only minutes before, but this one was the first kiss of a new chapter in their lives and Quinn put everything into that kiss to make damn sure Rachel knew it.

After prolonging it as long as she could and tightening her arms around her a little more, she realised the ring was still around the tip of her finger and not on Rachel's left hand where it rightfully belonged. She loosened her grip and kissed the brunette on the forehead before sitting her back in the chair and again taking her hand.

She placed the ring on the appropriate finger before bringing her hand to her mouth and delicately kissing it.

The crowd around them were applauding but neither of them noticed as Rachel again threw herself at Quinn and they shared another of those hope filled kisses.

-/-/-


End file.
